Marlborough House was the residence of the Great Duke, and is to be that
of the Prince of Wales, when another place is found for the pictures. It
adjoins St. James's Palace. In its present state it is not a very
splendid mansion, the rooms being small, though handsomely shaped, with
vaulted ceilings, and carved white-marble fireplaces. I left S----- here
after an hour or two, and walked forth into the hot and busy city with
J-----. . . . . I called at Routledge's bookshop, in hopes to make an
arrangement with him about Miss Bacon's business. But Routledge himself
is making a journey in the north, and neither of the partners was there,
so that I shall have to go thither some other day. Then we stepped into
St. Paul's Cathedral to cool ourselves, and it was delightful so to
escape from the sunny, sultry turmoil of Fleet Street and Ludgate, and
find ourselves at once in this remote, solemn, shadowy seclusion,
marble-cool. O that we had cathedrals in America, were it only for the
sensuous luxury! We strolled round the cathedral, and I delighted
J----- much by pointing out the monuments of three British generals, who
were slain in America in the last war,--the naughty and bloodthirsty
little man! We then went to Guildhall, where I thought J----- would like
to see Gog and Magog; but he had never heard of those illustrious
personages, and took no interest in them. . . . . But truly I am grateful
to the piety of former times for raising this vast, cool canopy of marble
[St.
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